A PARABLE. Some Hong Kong stockbrokers who had organised a bus trip in the New Territories suddenly noticed their fuel was running out rather quickly.
In fact, petrol was running out so quickly that an inexpert observer might have deduced that the tank had a hole and that someone ought to get out and check.
However, with one voice the stockbrokers cried: ''The tank was too full when we started our trip. A correction is very healthy.'' When the gauge showed just four gallons left, one said: ''If you look at the long-term trend, the amount of fuel is actually going up, not down. We're in this bus for the long-term.'' Ten minutes later, the broker from Nomura said: ''The moment the gauge falls below the three-gallon mark, it'll go straight to FULL.'' After a further 10 minutes it was slightly above two gallons.
One said: ''I've heard there's lots of petrol in London ready to be shipped out here the moment the gauge falls below the two-gallon mark.'' When the gauge reached one gallon, the man from Morgan Stanley said: ''The gauge is in a trading range between four gallons and two gallons.'' Another 10 minutes and the engine began to splutter.
''There's nothing to worry about,'' said one of the brokers. ''The tank still has more petrol in it than when the bus was made.'' Eventually the bus ran out of fuel many miles from the nearest petrol station. None of them considered even for a moment getting out the bus to go in search of petrol.
Instead they continued trying to talk the tank full again by chanting the following phrase together, over and over again: ''The fundamentals of the bus are still sound. The fundamentals of the bus are still sound. The fundamentals . . .'' Rain of terror HONGKONG Telecom was demonstrating the future yesterday in the shape of its video-on-demand service.